Is this normal?

[RoadToRecovery 3]

Hello to all my surgery buddies, I've read some really amazing posts on here and just want to say thank you to all of you that show support to each other. It can be a very scary time, specially for those of us who are alone in our process to recovery.

I had my gastric sleeve surgery on February 8th, I am 17 days post op as of this post. I still struggle a bit to consume even liquids. I burp a lot, and feel bloated all the time. I also have a constant feeling like everything slowly creeps up in my esophagus and just sits there. My pain levels are actually quite low, and my surgery incisions are healing quite well. I'm just worried about my stomach, my doctor wanted me to start introducing some solids slowly, but I told him no way I can barely tolerate liquids. So he has me on liquids for another week.

I hope I am not one of the unfortunate few where the surgery will have long lasting complications and although I will lose the weight, my quality of life will be lowered because of all this discomfort.

Thanks for reading, I wish everyone here a speedy recovery.

Edited February 25 by RoadToRecovery

[ChunkCat 707]

Hey!!

You are a little over 2 weeks post op. Burping and feeling bloated are quite normal. As the internal swelling goes down these will ease (unless you chug Water, then you'll feel bloated for sure! LOL). It isn't unusual to feel like things are creeping up your esophagus, right now everything is very swollen in there and that leads to a pressurized feeling. It can feel like water and food take forever to go down, or that they go down a bit and then start trying to crawl back up, before going down again. I had all these issues. I also had this thing where every time I drank something I could feel the Fluid displacing air in my digestive tract, causing burping and then this trickling, gurgling feeling AND sound as the fluid tracked down into my stomach. It sounded like liquid going down a drain you just unclogged. It was weird as hell. LOL It lasted for the first month until the swelling went down enough inside to make more space.

Fluids for another week are not going to hurt you. When you say fluids do you mean strict liquids only like milk and water? Or are you including shakes, pudding, yogurt, and so on? I was on strict fluids only for 2 weeks, no yogurt or puddings and I wasn't even able to stomach a real Protein Shake for the first month. I was not able to get any Protein down the first two weeks without intense stomach spasms. The surgeon said that was not unusual at all. After the first two weeks we were supposed to introduce thin purees for the third week, and he told me I could have really soft fish and soft eggs. I hated purees. Yogurt sat too heavy. I still couldn't do Jello. sugar free pudding was a no too. I could do protein water, milk, a little bit of soft pureed egg, and weirdly enough, a little soft fish chewed well.

At the 4th week we were told to progress to soft solids, but it took me another week before I was able to consistently. I had to be very gradual about my food progression. My team said that was perfectly fine, everyone's pace is a little different, just be sure to keep them posted on your progress as you go and follow their advice, but without forcing yourself to eat things your tummy doesn't feel ready for. You sound like you are right on schedule. ❤️

[RoadToRecovery 3]

Yep, I cannot stomach Protein Shakes just like you. Still on fluids only, today was a big breakthrough as I had some apple sauce and I felt fine. Thank you for taking the time to reply, it definitely made me feel much more at ease reading your experience. Which is very similar to mine at the moment. I feel like I am slowly progressing, the panic has abated a bit.

Thanks again, you're awesome Chunk! I've read several posts of yours.

[SleeveToBypass2023 1,907]

How are you doing now? I was able to move through the stages right on time, BUT...once I got to the solids at 6 weeks, I had to slooooow my roll because the level of fullness I got after 2 or 3 bites was something I never expected. It's really different for everyone, and while some of us can move through the stages normally, others need 2 or even 3 weeks at each stage before their stomachs can handle the next one. As long as you're getting in your Protein and fluids, you'll be fine.

[ChunkCat 707]

On 3/1/2024 at 8:33 PM, RoadToRecovery said:

Yep, I cannot stomach Protein Shakes just like you. Still on fluids only, today was a big breakthrough as I had some apple sauce and I felt fine. Thank you for taking the time to reply, it definitely made me feel much more at ease reading your experience. Which is very similar to mine at the moment. I feel like I am slowly progressing, the panic has abated a bit.

Thanks again, you're awesome Chunk! I've read several posts of yours.

Aww, thanks! I'm glad it helped! It is amazing at how sensitive and reactive our tummies are post-op. They definitely have opinions! How are you feeling now with another week having passed? Early out things can change so quickly looking back on it but in the moment feel like they take forever. I blame it on the "drinking Water like it is your only job" thing, the day seems to stretch on sooo long when you have 64oz worth of baby sips to take! 🤣